Santa Monica Food and Wine Festival

Here’s a review of the Festival on Disarray Magazine:

«The sad thing here is that, well, the organizers know they didn’t quite deliver. Their website now reads, ‘Thank you to the many of you who came out to support the event. To those who had a great time, thank you for showing your support. But what we had planned we didn’t receive, and we’re disappointed.’»

I agree with my fellow Unilocalers on this one. This is the worst attempt at a Food and Wine Festival. I would expect more in Santa Monica.
I rate the Food and Wine Fest of Santa Monica 2 thumbs down. I wish I had another set of hands, I would give it 4 thumbs down. The organizers of this event, are raggedy. It was the first year for this event so I’m guessing these folks had no clue. It was SUPER small, there were less than 3 wineries represented (there were a few other distibutors), not much variety in food, and the vendors seemed confused themselves.
The reason why I gave this mess of a festival 2 stars instead of 1, is because of the «La Grande Orange» Restaurant booth. Chef Eric was hustling over a hot grill from beginning to end – with a smile on his face, grilling up mini green chili sliders for all to enjoy. The sliders came on a soft roll with sharp cheese, spicy aoli sauce and a juicy ground beef patty with poblano chili’s mixed in. DELICIOUS. La Grande Orange stuck out like a diamond in the rough. Chef Eric and his team were clearly the only ones who put any real effort into the festival. I will be SURE to visit his restaurant real soon.
The organizers of this event will have to get their stuff together in a mojor way, if they are to try to put this on next year. For $ 40, I am not willing to take a chance. Insert mad face.

I totally agree with the previous post (Ted) this was a huge rip off!!! Poor planning — I mean really poor planning they didn’t even have trash cans. i wish i could give no stars.

This event was a complete scam. I would give it minus stars if I could.
I just hope some of the proceeds actually went to the special olympics as they claim. The event was overpriced and unorganized. The promoter should be ashamed of this event. There was a reason they made people purchase the tickets online. If you saw what the festival had to offer, you would have turned around and left. Unfortunately I was not so lucky. If you don’t believe me, i dare you to buy a ticket for next years event, if they even have one. BEWARE!!!